Blank Pages and Coloured Lines
by Rapis-Razuri
Summary: "With the way things are progressing out there, the Datascape might end up getting destroyed anyway." "I know. I just wanted to help. Instead I only made things worse." [Re:coded. Data-Naminé/Data-Roxas]


There was nowhere else to run.

Alone and surrounded in Castle Oblivion's empty halls, Naminé took a step back from where she stood, only to catch a scream in her throat as one of the Shadows behind her took a hard swipe at her legs. The impact was enough to trip her and bring her down, elbow first.

What happened next happened too fast for her to do anything to protect herself, but not so quickly that she couldn't see exactly what was happening. Sensing their prey grounded, the others _pounced_, flickering black and red panels like the glitches they were.

Was this how it was all her effort would amount to? It was fitting, if nothing else. To be brought down by the products of her hubris. For thinking she could manipulate the contents of the journal like it was sand on a beach.

Naminé braced herself for her end at those merciless claws, even though she was never real in the first place.

And that was when _he_ appeared.

There was something instinctively familiar about the way the hooded figure carried himself as he stepped out of the corridor of darkness barely inches from where she lay. The trim of his coat brushed against her shoulder as he raised an arm to summon an array of light pillars that encircled them both like a shield, against which Heartless disappeared into zeroes and ones when they tried to move past. At the snap of his fingers, those pillars burst outward, catching the horde surrounding them in their paths and leaving nothing but white in their wake.

Just like that it was over. Naminé lowered her arm and looked up at the black-cloaked figure who came to her rescue as she blinked the stars out of her eyes.

"Roxas…?"

He looked over his shoulder before turning and kneeling to her level. Their eyes met and he tilted his head sideways, a silent inquiry in his blue eyes.

"I'm alright," she replied. "Thank you."

"I thought I'd be too late."

Naminé smiled. It was nice to hear his voice again. "You were just in time."

The corner of his mouth turned upwards in response. "Good," he said, offering her a hand to help her stand. She accepted easily, but let go as soon as she was on her feet again.

Roxas looked around, taking in the sight of the stark white walls around them. "So this is Castle Oblivion."

"Yes." She wondered how much she knew of the Organization's operations here.

"I remember coming here with Axel once," Roxas admitted. "I was… looking for something - or someone. I don't remember, but then my head started hurting and I passed out." He looked at her. "That's not happening now."

"I guess the reason why is because we're in the Datascape," she said. After her brush with termination a minute ago, falling back to this familiar task of explaining things was comforting. "The real Castle Oblivion is key to finding someone with whom Sora shares a very special bond. You're connected to him too, so I guess when you went to the real castle, it affected you too."

"'Him'?" He echoed, surprised. "Do you think this 'him' was the person I was looking for?"

"No." It startling how quickly that answer came to her. "I think you were looking for someone else."

Was that a sigh of relief? Naminé didn't have much time to ponder it before he asked, "Who?"

"I don't know. Or rather… I don't remember." She slanted her head, thoughtful. "But I feel like I _should._ Maybe it's a side effects caused by my powers?"

"Your powers? Do you think… Could you maybe-?"

He sounded so hopeful. It pained her to refuse him. "_If_ I could," Naminé corrected softly, "I'm just a representation of the real me made of data. I'm really only here to pass on a message from her to Sora. I don't need my powers for that."

The crestfallen expression on his face was almost too much. She couldn't help but think she let him down. "I'm sorry."

"It's alright," Roxas intoned with a sigh. "If that's how it is, then it is how it is."

He was about to say something else, but Naminé saw his eyes flicker over her shoulder. She spun around - just in time to see Oblivion landing point first in the opposite wall, destroying a data heartless in the process.

"All these bugs," he muttered with an edge to his voice. "Where are they _coming_ from?"

_Through a Backdoor. From a System Sector_ would be the technically correct answer, but it wasn't the complete one.

"It's my fault," Naminé replied softly. "I put the hurt into the journal. It was the only way I could think of to let Sora know they were there, but in doing so… I caused the bugs to appear. To the data version of him, they'd be no different from the Heartless. I thought he could use them to learn to face the hurt. I had no idea things would turn out this way."

"With the way things are progressing out there, the Datascape might end up getting destroyed anyway."

"I know," she concurred with his observation. _I never thought the darkness in Sora's heart would… I have all this power and yet there's so much I didn't foresee. So much I don't know_. "If Sora's not ready to face it, the hurt could tear him apart," she said, fists tightening. She'd been so sure it was the right thing to do. "I… I couldn't let that happen to him, Roxas. Not again. But I couldn't leave all those memories be either. Those people who are suffering? The real me. The real you. Axel. That girl. The three. I couldn't just leave them to their fates could I? Not when there's something that could be done, but…" _Look what happened_.

"...Naminé?"

She was on the verge of screaming out in frustration. _"_I just wanted to _help._ Instead I only made things worse."

What happened next shocked her more than anything else that's happened so far. Shocked her enough to break out of the pit of self-pity she was slowly but surely drowning in. His hair tickled her cheeks and his breath brushed against her bare skin as he held her close.

"You okay?" he asked after a moment.

"Yes," she swallowed. He let his arms drop and she raised her head. "I'm sorry. I don't know what came over me."

Roxas blinked in sympathy. "Sounds like you've been carrying around a lot of hurt yourself."

"I guess so."

He caught her hand in both his own. "It's not over yet, you know," he said. His gaze was intense and determined. "If this data Sora can carry all our hurt without falling into darkness, then it means the real Sora can do the same, right?"

Naminé nodded once. "In theory. That's why it's so important for him to face the bugs, a little at a time. At least before the darkness started spiraling out of control."

"Then let Sora focus on fixing the journal," Roxas said. "After that, there has to be a way to accomplish your goal without setting the darkness loose again. Sora is in Olympus right now, so we have some time to figure it out."

"'We'?"

"You're not alone in this anymore, Naminé," he said softly, "Let me help you. I'm not supposed to be in this journal either, but unlike you I wasn't added because I had a purpose to fulfill, so that means…" He took a deep breath. "The reason why I exist must be because this data version of _Sora_ exists. Who better to make sure he's ready to take ownership of the hurt inside him than his other half?"

And _that_, somehow, was the last straw. Naminé felt a tear trickle down her cheek.

She also saw the exact moment Roxas's expression went from steadfast determination to raw panic as he began to offer her hurried apologies about how he didn't mean to push the wrong buttons.

Naminé giggled despite herself as she wiped away her tears. She couldn't help herself. It was endearing almost, to see the boy who loved sunsets and ice cream emerge from beneath the warrior hardened by so much hardship and loss. "It's okay, Roxas. You didn't do anything wrong," she assured him. "It just never occured to me to ask for help."

Roxas gave her a lopsided grin. "So you wanna get started?"

She nodded. "I guess the first thing we should do is fix the corrupt data here," she said. "The bugs would only keep coming otherwise."

"Sounds simple enough. That means finding the Keyhole, right? Any idea where that might be?"

Yes, she had an _idea_.

_Roses and death. _

She forced those painful memories away. The Graceful Assassin ruled this castle no longer. He could not hurt her anymore.

Roxas had noticed, but he said nothing and let his eyes speak for him. His earlier words rang through her mind. _There has to be a way to accomplish your goal without setting the darkness loose again._

Naminé gasped.

Oh.

_Oh._

Why didn't she think of this before?

Roxas was right. There _was_ another way to test Sora, but only if Castle Oblivion, this _data_ Castle Oblivion, had a new lord.

Slowly, Naminé took Roxas's hand, causing him to glance down and then back at her with questions on his tongue.

Lifting herself an inch on her toes, Naminé leaned in and whispered in his ear, "There's something you should know about this castle, Roxas. It's a saying, actually: 'In this place, to find is to lose and to lose is to find…'"

* * *

Title comes from "In Technicolor, Pt II" by (who else) Jesse McCartney


End file.
